Leading critic of Philippine leader arrested on drug charges

A Philippine senator and leading critic of President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly crackdown on illegal drugs said she won’t be intimidated by a leader she called a “serial killer” after police arrested her on drug charges.

Leila de Lima said the accusations against her were part of an attempt by Duterte to muzzle critics of the clampdown that has left more than 7,000 suspected dealers and small-time users dead. She questioned why the court suddenly issued the arrest order when it was scheduled Friday to hear her petition to throw out the charges of receiving bribes from detained drug lords.

“If they think they can silence me, if they think I will no longer fight for my advocacies, especially on the truth on the daily killings and other intimidations of this Duterte regime. It’s my honor to be jailed for what I’ve been fighting for,” she said before police took her into custody at the Senate.

A police convoy, trailed by media vans, took de Lima to the main police camp, where officers took her mugshot and fingerprints before they locked her up in a detention center. Two former senators she helped prosecute for plunder when she was the justice secretary have